In 2016 many records were set because of the presidential election. We had the first woman president nominee, Hillary Clinton, first jewish candidate, Bernie Sanders, and finally having the first nominee that has held any position in any government, Donald Trump. Many debates and controversies were made during this election because of our two very controversial nominees Clinton and Trump. Overall Trump ended on top on the final results and although it was not what was expected there is more than one reason why he won the election. Reasons include social media, Clinton as well as Trumps way of campaigning, as well as the electoral college having a significant role.
Voters of all different people all across the United States had a very big role in the way the way they shared about their political views. Whether it was the way they spoke about the opponent candidate or how they shared their political opinions and views on social media very well could have affected the votes especially for the voters who were undecided or leaning. Trump was easily the biggest topic of conversation during the elections whether it was in a positive or negative note. Trump instantly would trend on any topic that he posted or that was posted in regards to him. The amount that was posted as well as the content that was posted for each candidate could have made many people change their views of the them whether the information shared was true or false. The candidates themselves could have persuaded candidates to their vote or even change their votes. For example, the way Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton exchanges infamous tweets on social media pretty much “trolling” each other in the information they tweeting in order to get messages across. Candidates also used social media as a way to communicate any after thoughts from any nationwide debates or interviews. Nonetheless, Trump was definitely the lead in the way he used social media. Although it may not have been the smartest way he was able to spark a lot of conversation on his behalf influences the votes one way or the other. “Trump may very well have the most combative online presence of any candidate for president in modern history” as stated by National Public Radio. Overall the goal in all of the activity on social media that was shown during this presidential election was to reach the votes of millenials.
The focus in where the candidates spent their time as well as their money all depended on their way of campaigning.
To begin with one must understand how the electoral college works and how it is that Trump was able to win the electoral votes. The electoral college is made up of 538 electors who cast votes to decide the President and Vice-President. The number 538 is the total of 435 Representatives, 100 Senators, and 3 electors given to the District of Columbia. Therefore, in order to win the electoral college one candidate would need 270 of the votes to win, whether or not they have won the public vote. Then if no one gets the majority vote then the election is then passed to the House of Representatives.
Although Trump lost popular vote by 2.1% of the total votes. Therefore, a total of 2,865,075 of votes were in favor of Clinton over Trump which was “More Americans voted for Hillary Clinton than any other losing presidential candidate in US history.” as stated by CNN News. But it was the smart move of Trump to focus on the swing states in hopes to win the electoral college as he did. In the previous election Obama carried Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida which was then what Trump began to shoot for. It was because of swing states that Trump focused on that was able to win him the election which is yet one of the few reasons that he did win.
